Part 31 (1/2)
At this point an ominous flattening became apparent in his lords.h.i.+p's eyelids, but these symptoms pa.s.sed off when Mr. Heath sat down and indicated that he had no further questions to ask.
Miss Dobbs once more prepared to step down from the witness-box, when Mr. Loram shot up like a jack-in-the-box.
”You have made certain statements,” said he, ”concerning the scarab which Mr. Bellingham was accustomed to wear suspended from his watch-guard. You say that he was not wearing it when he came to Mr.
Hurst's house on the twenty-third of November, nineteen hundred and two.
Are you quite sure of that?”
”Quite sure.”
”I must ask you to be very careful in your statement on this point. The question is a highly important one. Do you swear that the scarab was not hanging from his watch-guard?”
”Yes, I do.”
”Did you notice the watch-guard particularly?”
”No, not particularly.”
”Then what makes you so sure that the scarab was not attached to it?”
”It couldn't have been.”
”Why could it not?”
”Because if it had been there I should have seen it.”
”What kind of a watch-guard was Mr. Bellingham wearing?”
”Oh, an ordinary sort of watch-guard.”
”I mean, was it a chain or a ribbon or a strap?”
”A chain, I think--or perhaps a ribbon--or it might have been a strap.”
His lords.h.i.+p flattened his eyelids, but made no further sign, and Mr.
Loram continued:
”Did you or did you not notice what kind of watch-guard Mr. Bellingham was wearing?”
”I did not. Why should I? It was no business of mine.”
”But yet you are sure about the scarab?”
”Yes, quite sure.”
”You noticed that, then?”
”No, I didn't. How could I when it wasn't there?”
Mr. Loram paused and looked helplessly at the witness; a suppressed t.i.tter arose from the body of the Court, and a faint voice from the bench inquired: